Gender-based analysis plus

Section 1: institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity

Governance

As a small organization, the NFB is integrating GBA+ into its very governance structure, with its Strategic Planning and Government Relations team assuming responsibility for the GBA+ process. Three employees have been assigned (on a part-time basis) to the task of integrating GBA+ into the NFB’s decision-making processes, in addition to fulfilling an advisory role and overseeing monitoring and accountability.

Capacity

In February 2021, the NFB released a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan that aimed to drive sustainable and meaningful change and make the NFB an egalitarian, open and diverse organization. In line with this Plan, in 2022–23 the NFB met its commitments regarding gender parity and the proportion of its production budgets allocated to Indigenous creators. The organization also developed a self-identification questionnaire. The information gathered with this questionnaire will enable the NFB to measure and report on the effects of its commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Section 2: gender and diversity impacts, by program

Core responsibility: Audiovisual Programming and Production

Program name: Audiovisual Programming and Production

Program goals: The National Film Board’s mandate is to create relevant and innovative audiovisual content that interprets Canada and its diversity to Canadians and people around the world. The NFB works with filmmakers and artists from every region of Canada to produce exceptional documentaries, animated films and interactive/immersive works rooted in Canadian experiences and realities. The NFB has long been a champion of technological and film innovation, both nationally and internationally. The NFB seeks to reflect the perspectives and experiences of communities that are systematically underrepresented in the media and to develop innovative new storytelling forms and approaches.

Target population: Creators of audiovisual works, including documentaries, auteur animation and interactive projects.

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group outcomes

Certain initiatives specifically target women, creators from Indigenous communities, visible minorities and emerging filmmakers, as well as those from official-language minority communities.

Key program impacts^* on gender and diversity
Key program impact statistics

Other key program impacts

Presenting perspectives that are seldom if ever seen on screen is an integral part of the NFB’s mandate. The NFB gives a voice to groups that are systematically underrepresented in the media landscape, whether in front of or behind the camera, such as women, Indigenous people, official-language minority communities, ethnocultural communities, 2SLGBTQI+ communities and people living with disabilities. Below are some of the works launched in 2022–23 that demonstrate this diversity.

• The first Haida-language production, Now Is the Time is a unique project. Directed by Christopher Auchter, who’s originally from the Haida Gwaii archipelago (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), the film is helping to keep alive a language that currently has only 24 speakers.
• The feature-length documentary Ever Deadly is a film and musical experience featuring Inuk throat-singer and avant-garde artist Tanya Tagaq. Emerging from a collaboration between Tagaq and Chelsea McMullan, this work intersperses concert footage with impressive sequences filmed on the land in Nunavut.
• 2022–2023 also saw the release of films made during the 13th edition of Hothouse, a mentorship program for emerging animation creators, supported by the English Program Animation & Interactive Studio. Three anglophone filmmakers from Quebec took part in the latest season of the program to create animated shorts under the theme “100.”
• From the Canadian francophonie, the documentary feature KOROMOUSSO – Grande sœur (KOROMOUSSO: Big Sister), co-directed by Habibata Ouarme, an emerging Canadian filmmaker with family roots in Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, and Jim Donovan, an established, award-winning bilingual director, explores the phenomenon of female genital mutilation (FGM) from the perspective of those who’ve experienced it. With great sensitivity, the film examines the shame felt by women who’ve been subjected to FGM and now live in Canada, a country largely unresponsive to their experience, because although it has banned this practice, it does not offer the reconstructive surgery that could improve their sexual health. This is Ouarme’s first feature-length documentary. It was produced by the NFB’s Quebec, Canadian Francophonie & Acadian Documentary Studio and launched at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto and London in March 2023.

Supplementary information sources

Gender Parity at the NFB

Equity, diversity and inclusion. NFB’s goals and commitments

NFB Indigenous Action Plan

Review on Official Languages

GBA Plus data collection plan

In 2022–23, the NFB also developed a confidential, non-mandatory self-identification form that, starting in early 2023–24, will be sent out to the filmmakers, artists and production-team members who collaborate with the NFB. The personal information collected on these forms will include data on Indigenous, racial and ethnic identity; disability status; gender identity and expression; belonging to the 2SLGBTQI+ community; and belonging to an official-language minority community. The people who agree to fill out this form will enable the organization to measure and report on the effects of its commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion, while the information provided will be treated confidentially. The first round of results obtained through the form will be announced in the course of fiscal year 2024–25.

Core responsibility: Content accessibility and audience engagement

Program name: Preservation, conservation and digitization of works

Program goals: This program sets out to preserve and digitize works in the National Film Board’s collection in order to secure their longevity and availability to Canadians today and in the future. At a time when media consumption has largely migrated to the Internet, making high-quality, innovative Canadian content available to Canadians remains imperative. Failure to put a concerted effort into conservation and preservation will jeopardize this cultural heritage. The program uses appropriate identification, management, archiving and restoration tools and systems to reduce the risk of technological obsolescence, minimize the effects of time on the media supporting the works and ensure their physical security. Digitizing the works in the collection, in turn, enables Canadians to view them in the format and on the platform of their choice, wherever they may be located.

Target population: All Canadians in all parts of Canada, but also, specifically, players in the audiovisual industry and the non-theatrical sector. Note that as part of a partnership between the NFB and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), Indigenous communities are more specifically targeted.

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group outcomes

Not available

Key program impacts^* on gender and diversity
Key program impact statistics

Not available

Other key program impacts

In 2022, the NFB conservation team’s expertise led to a special partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Under this partnership, the NFB is converting the videos of Survivors’ statements and other original audiovisual content recorded at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings into formats suitable for archiving and for posting on the web. As of March 31, 2023, the NFB had converted and delivered nearly 690 hours of content to the Centre. In total, some 7,000 statements and more than 1,500 hours of content will be preserved through this project. This new partnership is the result of the commitments taken by the NFB in 2017 when it published its Indigenous Action Plan.

Supplementary information sources

NFB Archives

NFB Indigenous Action Plan

GBA Plus data collection plan

Not available

 

Core responsibility: Content accessibility and audience engagement

Program name: Distribution of works and audience engagement

Program goals: This program makes National Film Board works available to Canadian and international audiences in their chosen formats. To this end, the NFB has an extensive national distribution network that brings together numerous public and private partners as well as community organizations. Films produced and distributed by the NFB can be viewed on a variety of Canadian and international broadcast networks, at festivals, during community screenings, in cinemas and schools and through various cultural and social organizations, and can also be obtained from libraries and the online store. The program also uses distribution platforms such as nfb.ca | onf.ca, YouTube, social media, and an array of video on-demand and subscription platforms to meet emerging audience needs. These various distribution channels allow the NFB to reach out to its audiences, prompt discussion and encourage debate on issues of importance to Canadians. The National Film Board has also been recognized for generations in schools as a reliable provider of educational content. Its online educational offer, available in both official languages, includes activities and teaching resources tailored to the needs expressed by major players in Canada’s education sector.

Target population: All Canadians in all parts of Canada

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group outcomes

Some initiatives also target the following sub-groups more specifically (but not exclusively):

• Indigenous people;
• People who identify as 2SLGBTQI+;
• Students and education professionals (particularly via CAMPUS, Media School and Ocean School, the NFB’s online education platforms);
• Members of visible minorities;
• People with disabilities;
• Official-language minority communities.

Key program impacts^* on gender and diversity
Key program impact statistics

Other key program impacts

Year after year, the NFB carries out initiatives and activities that give a voice to underrepresented communities, and 2022–23 was no exception. This year the NFB again celebrated Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month and Pride Month by releasing new films, making special themed channels accessible for free on the nfb.ca platform, and holding panel discussions with filmmakers from these communities.

Also in 2022–23, the NFB organized a tour of This Is Not a Ceremony, a virtual-reality experience by Niitsitapi writer and director Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon). Presented in English, French and Blackfoot, the tour brought the experience to 13 cities and six Indigenous communities in Canada and the United States, thus giving more people the chance to discover a moving, cinematic work that explores the darker side of living life in Canada while Indigenous.

The powerful short film Nalujuk Night, produced by the NFB in 2021, had an exceptional festival run last year. Directed by multidisciplinary Inuk artist Jennie Williams, the film reveals an ancient Labrador Inuit tradition that blends fantasy and fear. It was named best short film at South by Southwest, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro, won a Best of Festival honour at Yorkton, made the Oscar shortlist, and received an award at the Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal.

Finally, for the 18th year in a row the NFB was a proud partner of the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF), which marked its 25th anniversary. The RVF was part of the cultural events surrounding International Francophonie Day, which is observed on March 20 every year to celebrate the French language in all its diversity. In keeping with the theme of this year’s RVF—“Celebrations”—the NFB presented six programs of free, virtual and in-person screenings of documentary and animated films that invited Canadian francophones and francophiles to celebrate “the music of French.” These included the films:

• L’Ordre secret (The Secret Order), by celebrated Acadian director Phil Comeau. The film paints a fascinating picture of the social and political struggles of Canada’s francophone minorities. It had its world premiere at the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA), where it received the Audience Choice award and a Special Mention from the jury. It also won a Documentary Feature Special Jury Award at the Cinema on the Bayou Festival in Louisiana, and had theatrical screenings in several cities in New Brunswick—where it enjoyed a five-week run—as well as in Nova Scotia. As part of the NFB’s programming lineup for RVF 2023, it was screened 93 times in 63 cities across Canada;
• The short documentary French Enough, by renowned Fransaskois singer-songwriter Alexis Normand. Although shot mostly in English, the film invites audiences into candid family conversations about bilingualism, belonging and francophone identity in Saskatchewan. There were exceptional outreach efforts surrounding this film at the most recent edition of the RVF, for which Alexis Normand was the spokesperson. As part of this cultural event, Normand embarked on a cross-Canada tour in which she combined her own musical performances with screenings of her film. French Enough was also screened at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival in Canada, the Cinema on the Bayou Festival in the United States, and at the 2023 Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma film festival, where it won the award for Best French-Canadian Film.

Supplementary information sources

Channels available on the NFB’s online screening room:

• Indigenous Cinema
• Asian Communities in Canada
• Black Communities in Canada
• 2SLGBTQI+
• The Role of the English Community in Quebec
• L’Espace francophonie

GBA Plus data collection plan

Some analyses of the NFB’s current media placement campaigns provide an understanding of the target audience by classifying the results by geographic origin, age and sex. But it is not currently possible to monitor the impact of these campaigns on the NFB’s online distribution or to verify their effectiveness. By revising the procedures we use to monitor our marketing campaigns and by using Google Analytics, we will be able to monitor these campaigns more effectively, improve their effectiveness and confirm that the NFB has reached its target audience.

 

Core responsibility: Content accessibility and audience engagement

Program name: Promotion of works and National Film Board outreach

Program goals: This program is dedicated to making the National Film Board and its works better known in Canada and abroad. Program activities generally include promoting NFB audiovisual works and themed compilations at major festivals, on the national and international markets and at major industry events, as well as marketing and promoting retrospectives of NFB works and pre-eminent NFB filmmakers (Norman McLaren, Pierre Perrault, Alanis Obomsawin). The program also leads many public relations and promotional activities in the cultural sector and film industry, including NFB involvement in roundtables, contests and award ceremonies, facilitated through partnerships and collaborations with both public and private sectors, with the NFB working in close collaboration with industry.

Target population: All Canadians in all parts of Canada as well as the international public and NFB creators.

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group outcomes

Not available

Key program impacts^* on gender and diversity
Key program impact statistics

Other key program impacts

The excellence of the NFB was once again highlighted around the world, with 99 awards and honours given to works and filmmakers at festivals and industry events. Among the directors who received awards, 62% were women and 21% were Indigenous.

Several works by Indigenous creators stood out at festivals over the course of the year, notably Jennie Williams’ Nalujuk Night and Terril Calder’s Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics, which won eight and seven awards, respectively. In addition, Alanis Obomsawin, the acclaimed Abenaki filmmaker from Montreal and a producer at the Quebec & Atlantic Studio, won the Cultural Enrichment Award at the Weengushk International Film Festival in Sudbury and was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the RAI Film Festival in Bristol, England.

Supplementary information sources

Not available

GBA Plus data collection plan

Not available

 

Core responsibility: Internal Services

Program name: Internal Services

Program goals: Committed to promoting better ways of working together, the NFB develops actions to ensure the well-being of its staff and collaborators.

Target population: The employees of the NFB and its collaborators.

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group outcomes

Not available

Key program impacts^* on gender and diversity
Key program impact statistics

Other key program impacts

The NFB continued to implement its objectives and commitments regarding equity, diversity and inclusion, begun in the preceding year. In 2022–23, the following initiatives were developed or implemented:

• An increase in the number of resource groups composed of staff who will act as support committees for the underrepresented groups while fulfilling the mandates that will be assigned to them by NFB management;
• The planning of steps to make the NFB’s workforce representative of the diversity of Canada. In this spirit, the organization revised its strategy for attracting and retaining talent so as to target equity-seeking groups. The year 2022–23 also saw the start of a relationship with Indigenous Link; this collaboration gives the NFB a direct connection to Indigenous communities throughout Canada and will help it to achieve one of the main objectives of its Indigenous Action Plan: representational parity for Indigenous people in its workforce by 2025;
• The NFB also presented two training courses to all of its teams. The first, in fall 2022, dealt with unconscious bias as well as diversity and inclusion. The second course, presented in February 2023, dealt with Indigenous professional learning. Designed to explore the truth before attempting reconciliation, this course was directly related to the NFB Indigenous Relations and Community Engagement team’s mandate to create a safe, humble workplace;
• The implementation of the NFB’s integrated talent-management strategy, centred on the five values set out in its Strategic Plan, one of which is diversity. Skills, qualifications and expected behaviours have been associated with each of the values, and employees will be given training to help them to develop the skills identified. This component of the strategy will begin with management staff in the coming year.
• The NFB continued its involvement in the evaluation of the Collaboration Agreement for the Development of Arts and Culture in the Francophone Minority Communities of Canada and participated fully in the individual meetings at which this evaluation was conducted. Also, in connection with the modernization of the Official Languages Act (Bill C-13), the NFB participated in one of the public consultations held by the Government of Canada to develop its new action plan. This meeting was attended by a number of federal organizations, and its theme was “Appreciation of English and French: Arts and culture, youth, seniors, key institutions.”

Supplementary information sources

Not available

GBA Plus data collection plan

Not available

Scales

Gender scale

• First group: predominantly men (80% or more men)
• Second group: 60% to 79% men
• Third group: broadly gender-balanced
• Fourth group: 60% to 79% women
• Fifth group: predominantly women (80% or more women)

Income‑level scale

• First group: strongly benefits low‑income individuals (strongly progressive)
• Second group: somewhat benefits low‑income individuals (somewhat progressive)
• Third group: no significant distributional impacts
• Fourth group: somewhat benefits high‑income individuals (somewhat regressive)
• Fifth group: strongly benefits high‑income individuals (strongly regressive)

Age‑group scale

• First group: primarily benefits youth, children or future generations
• Second group: no significant intergenerational impacts or impacts on generations between youths and seniors
• Third group: primarily benefits seniors or the baby boom generation